Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Get Well Soon Steve (7:18 am)

Steve Gilliard is slated to undergo open heart surgery (again).

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Monday, February 26, 2007

Keith Olbermann Reviews the Olympian Ignorance and Stupidity Displayed By Condi Rice (7:01 pm)

Seems Condoleeza Rice has entered into a “Who Is More Incredibly Stoopid?” competition with Dick Cheney.

Rice invoked Godwin’s Law in a monumentally pathetic and historically misinformed effort to disparage Democratic plans to revise Bush’s war authorization.
On Fox News Sunday, Feb 25, Rice stated that

“it would be like saying that after Adolf Hitler was overthrown, we needed to change, then, the resolution that allowed the United States to do that so that we could deal with creating a stable environment in Europe after he was overthrown.”

Keith points out that 1) Saddam Hussein was no Hitler, 2) the Germans declared war on the United States, so, um, there was no equivalent need for Congress to authorize war, 3) the United States was an occupation force in post war Germany, and 4) the congressional authorization for “creating a stable environment in Europe after [Hitler] was overthrown” was not at all “ridiculous.” It was the exceedingly successful Marshall Plan (opposed as it was by the Republicans, who didn’t want to spend any more money on foreign aid).

Norm at onegoodmove has the video.

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

If They Ever Told the Truth, How Could Anyone Possibly Know? (6:27 pm)

Seymour Hersh appeared again on CNN, discussing the military preparations being made for - and senior military discontent being voiced about - Bush/Cheney targeting Iran for war. SecDef Gates crosses his heart and swears it ain’t so. Hersh rather enjoys infinitely greater credibility. Senior military obviously haven’t been paying attention, if they think Bush and Cheney could possibly be deterred by logic and reason and the risk of many more American deaths.
Crooks and Liars has the video.

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Contest Announcement: “Cheney Lyin’ Fool Sweepstakes” (12:57 pm)

Josh Marshall has created a contest, inviting entrants to submit “the most idiotic, dishonest or just plain ridiculously wrong quote from our vice president, Dick Cheney.” Entries will be judged “not only on inherent mumbojumbo and/or the delusional quality of the quote, but also on how well known the quote is. So if it’s one of the two or three Cheney whoppers that easily comes off everyone’s lips, that might not get as high as a score as another that’s a bit more off the beaten path.”

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Obama Publicly Scolds His Own Spokesman for Not Playing Nice (11:54 am)

Markos calls attention to this story by Lynn Sweet for the Chicago Sun-Times, reporting that Obama has repudiated the “hardball tactics” of his own communications chief Robert Gibbs, who apparently acted unilaterally without authorization in firing zingers back at Camp Hillary, when Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson got all whiny and peevish about remarks made by David Geffen.

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Erroneous Blog Post (8:23 am)

CORRECTION: The previous headline to this post stated there was a failure by WaPo to publish the poll data (as discussed below) which reflects public opinion at odds with the Post’s editorial view. That was incorrect. The poll in its entirety was in fact published. The point of the Think Progress post was not that the data wasn’t published, but that the specific question about Murtha’s plan was not mentioned in the separate news article about the poll. And I failed to correctly recognize and describe the circumstances, and misreported the story.

But the link highlighted this morning by Think Progress - to that article discussing the poll, and which is now time-stamped 5:10 PM (Eastern Time) - does directly refer to the Murtha proposal.

Apologies for my screw up.

Thanks to Carl in comments, for prompting me to revisit.
——-
Think Progress reports:

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows that Americans strongly back [Dem Congressman John] Murtha’s plan to strengthen U.S. forces:

Would you support or oppose Congress trying to block Bush’s plan by creating new rules on troop training and rest time that would limit the number of troops available for duty in Iraq?

Support: 58 percent
Oppose: 39 percent
Unknown: 4 percent

But…

The Washington Post editorial board — which four years ago called President Bush’s plan for war in Iraq “an operation essential to American security” — is now harshly attacking Rep. John Murtha’s (D-PA) effort to increase support for the overstretched U.S. military and restrain Bush’s Iraq escalation.

The Post claims that Murtha’s plan “crudely [hamstrings] the ability of military commanders to deploy troops,” and that “Murtha’s cynicism is matched by an alarming ignorance about conditions in Iraq.”

And so

The Washington Post’s article on the new poll doesn’t mention the results of the question on Murtha’s plan.

posted by Brian Zick | 1 comment

On the Forty Second Day of Fitzmas (7:09 am)

One juror has been dismissed, and Judge Walton has decided not to replace her with an alternate.

Matt Apuzzo for AP reports:

WASHINGTON - A federal judge avoided a potential mistrial in the CIA leak case Monday by dismissing a juror and sending the other 11 back to continue deliberating the fate of former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said the juror had seen or read something over the weekend about Libby’s trial.

“What she had exposure to obviously disqualifies her,” the judge said.

He did not say what the juror had seen but characterized it as a misunderstanding. He has ordered jurors to avoid media coverage of the case.

Walton originally feared several jurors were tainted, raising the specter of a mistrial in the politically charged case. Libby is accused of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity.

After questioning jurors behind closed doors, however, Walton said the remaining seven women and four men were not affected. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald Walton asked the judge to call on one of two alternates, both women, who sat through the trial and are on standby.

But Walton said that would require deliberations to begin fresh and said he didn’t want to “throw away two and a half days” of discussions. Instead, he sided with Libby’s lawyers and allowed deliberations to continue with 11 jurors — something allowed under federal law in such situations.

Jane Hamsher at firedoglake discusses the situation here and here.

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Sunday, February 25, 2007

“Echoes of Iran-Contra” (11:05 am)

Seymour Hersh, on CNN, discusses George Bush’s unconstitutional executive branch covert operations, undertaken without authorization of Congress.
Crooks and Liars has the video.

From Article. I., Section. 9., of the Constitution:

“No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.”

Ronald Reagan’s funding of the contra rebels in Nicaragua was done with money secured from third parties - other countries and private citizens - in other words, funds not appropriated and authorized by Congress. Discovery of this unconstitutional and illegal executive branch behavior was what triggered the Iran/contra hearings, and investigation by Independent Counsel.

Hersh’s story “THE REDIRECTION” is published in The New Yorker.